Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

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Cedric wasn't the only one who's facing demons at the 11th floor and above. This also applies to other participants as well.

The appearance of demons in the spire caused heated discussions from the hosts and the audience. The fierce beasts were normal and a common sight even in human territories, but demons? They're pretty rare.

"That's what a demon looks like? No wonder they're hated; they're ugly as fuck."

"They look intimidating, bro."

"What's that malevolent aura around them?"

"It's infernal energy—hostile to all except demons because they're born from it. This energy can also warp everything it touches, like what happened to the environment around them. That's why the battlefields of all participants looked the same."

"Sounds dangerous. And there's more of them out there?"

"Yeah. Lots of them. Some might even be hiding at the benign corners of Heavenly Star. It's our duty to eliminate them, or else they'll lay waste to our homes."

Even demons themselves were surprised after seeing their kin on the large screen. They didn't know how it's possible for their kin to reach the Ascension Spire since the security of the Altus Sky Solar System was very strict; there had never been a good chance for them to infiltrate it. It has always been under the jurisdiction of humans.

This is where Paul and Lisa, being the dutiful hosts of this tournament, explained why the demons appeared.

"Everybody, you're now seeing demons in action," Paul solemnly stated. "As you can see, they're strong. Most of our participants are having a difficult time facing them. Demons are one of the threats we humans have to face to keep our race safe and secure."

"Now, some of you might be wondering how they appeared in the spire. We actually asked our dear councillor, Nicholas Welsh, who's also the current title holder of having the highest floor reached in the spire, about this."

"According to him, the Altus Sky Solar System has never been infiltrated by demons. His statement was confirmed to be true since he was born and raised in there."

"The only explanation available is that the spire conceived these creatures within itself. As for how it did that, even our dear councillor doesn't know. However, it is clear that the demons this spire created are perfectly replicated from the real ones. Therefore, facing the ones in the spire was no different from facing a demon in reality."

"Additionally, our participants will face other creatures as well," Lisa added. "We've already seen them deal with fierce beasts earlier and demons now. Later, as they climb higher, if their abilities allow it, they will see more creatures replicated by the spire, so please stay tuned to our broadcast to never miss out on the action!"

Paul and Lisa's explanation made the audience understand how the demons appeared. But whether it was true or not, the audience can only take their word on it. More specifically, Nicholas' words. He was, after all, their only legitimate source.

The one thing hateful about the spire is that it doesn't explain itself. It expects anybody who ascends it to understand everything that it's throwing at them. It totally acts like it doesn't owe anybody any explanation for its existence and actions. And while that might be true, it doesn't make it any less irritating for the ascenders.

**

From the 11th to the 20th floor, the finalists will face demons. The higher they climbed, the stronger and more enemies they'd have to face.

Dealing with a single demon wasn't that difficult. Facing two at the same time was a little more complicated but still manageable. Three at the same time, though? That's tough. And again, the higher they climb, the more demons they have to face.

See, the more demons are in the same space, the more potent infernal energy becomes. The infernal energy of a single demon was already more than enough to alter the world around it, making it biased towards the demon and hostile against everything else. Adding more was just overkill and excessive.

Furthermore, demons are strong physically, too. They could endure at least five times the normal amount of pain and damage that a human could endure before they collapse.

The angrier a demon gets, the more powerful and obsessive it becomes. This is what really makes them dangerous. They could ignore everything else that's not related to killing their targets. They also have a mixed bag of tricks that most people aren't aware of, which could seriously injure them if they're caught off guard.

Even though most of the finalists came from respectable backgrounds and were raised in rich environments, making them stronger compared to ordinary life evolvers, facing demons still gave them a lot of trouble.

The only one who's still sailing by relatively smoothly is Cedric.

Numbers don't seem to matter when facing him. He's more than equipped to deal with large crowds of enemies on his own. His personal strength, endurance, and wit seemed to be forged from battles that lasted days, if not weeks, all by himself.

So what if the demons warped the world to be hostile to him? So what if they had all sorts of devious tricks they're keeping for the very last moment to turn the tables? So what if he's forced to face more than one demon at a time?

None of it mattered to him. All it takes is a couple swings and flights of his swords for him to deal with every type of opposition he's facing.

Unlike last time, though, there isn't a leaderboard visible to every finalist, letting them know who's ahead or falling behind.

Some of them still thought that they're not doing so bad, only for the truth to be different from what they believed in.

Dawnbringer is ahead of the curve again. He's already at the 20th floor, dealing with 10 demons at the same time.

He just killed half of them and was about to deal with the other half.

A few flying swords here and there, and suddenly, all demons were dead. And just as a bonus, Cedric brandished his sword and cleared the world of infernal energy by releasing a pulse of purifying Origin Energy coming from him.

Those who saw him doing this called it excessive and a wasted effort.

Why purify the battlefield when he's not staying there for long anyway? What was he trying to accomplish by doing this? Why waste original energy here? Won't he need it in the following floors?

They don't understand him. And frankly, Cedric couldn't blame them.

They're not like him, whose home world got invaded and nearly colonized by demons. They didn't grow up in an environment that's always in a constant existential crisis. They didn't have to become the heroes of their home world like him, forced to wage a single-man war against an enemy that's completely beyond them while also trying their best to restore their home world's health so that it won't be destroyed after all of that effort.

Honestly, his act of cleansing the battlefield like that was done by instinct. He felt like he owed it to his younger self to clean up the mess that demons left behind and do a little favor to the worlds they desecrated with their disgusting auras.

As for this being a waste of his origin energy? That doesn't matter; he recovers what he spent in the next minute anyway.

He wasn't expecting anything out of this. He did it out of his own volition.

Now that he's done with the 20th floor, he found himself returning to the platform of cubes. And just like before, the platform rose again after he cleared the 20th floor.

The new space he's in was brighter and felt kinder than the previous one. It's less gloomy and only a little less dark compared to before.

Also, the portal was there. Again, it's larger and brighter. Now, it's indicating that it will lead him to the 21st floor.

Cedric didn't need to rest, so he entered. And once he did, he arrived at a completely new world.

He felt as if he got transported into a clockwork world. He's surrounded with gears, machinery, and steam engines that are letting out sharp whistles and noises.

Qiu!!!

A strange and sharp whistle nearby alerted him. When he looked at it, he saw that it was coming from a puppet with poorly designed mimicry of what a human should look like.

Its body was made of gears and machines. Honestly, it reminded him of the wound-up toys back in Prime Earth. Only these ones were bigger and seemed to be hostile toward him.

"Am I going to be facing Mechanoids now?" Cedric mused out loud.

He wouldn't be surprised if this turned out to be the case. It's only fitting given the venue he's in.

But before he could think too much, the toy soldier in front of him had already gotten up. It armed itself, and its eyes glowed red with steam being released at its joints.

Then, with a surprising burst of speed, it charged towards him.